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The Situation Room
One-On-One With White House Chief Of Staff; W.H. Chief Of Staff Chides Dems On Stimulus, Defends Trump Pandemic Response In Exclusive CNN Interview, Says He Doesn't Expect Trump To Accept Nomination In Oval Office Speech; New Clues About Cause Of Beirut Blast, 135-Plus Dead, 5,000-Plus Hurt. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired August 05, 2020 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:00]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
We're following breaking news. We're standing by to see if President Trump takes questions at a coronavirus briefing about to get underway. But a source close to the task force is now telling CNN the President "still doesn't get" the severity of the pandemic as evidenced in his latest claim that the virus will just go away.
Amid the President's denial of the crisis, more than 157,000 Americans have now died with the country seeing its highest one day death toll in two months, and now topping 4.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States. Dr. Anthony Fauci underscored the true magnitude of the crisis saying today that the United States have suffered and I'm quoting him now "as much or worse than anyone" in this pandemic.
Let's get some more in the breaking news right now. Our National Correspondent Sara Sidner is joining us.
Sara, we're also just getting word of some very disturbing developments in one school district. What are you learning?
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, school has just started were pretty much in some places in just the first week. And we are now hearing that in a Mississippi School District, the current school district now reporting that there have been several people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, and that has caused 100 students to have to be quarantine because of those positives tests. And this is as the President has been saying that schools must reopen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The virus is winning and the American people are losing.
SIDNER (voice-over): The coronavirus teaching us a terrible lesson as some schools begin failing with students. In-person learning already disrupted in Cherokee County, Georgia after a second grade students tested positive within the first couple of days. Students and a teacher in that class now home for a 14-day quarantine.
In Georgia's largest school system, 260 school employees staying home due to positive tests or exposure to the virus.
AHSLEY NEWMAN, FORMER TEACHER: This is a community issue. And we need to find a way to be able to get through to the higher ups and help them see that if the teachers aren't safe, then the students aren't safe and then the community is not safe.
SIDNER: In Mississippi some schools reopening even though the state has the highest positivity rate in the country. Masks now mandatory including in schools located in COVID-19 hotspots.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says if in person learning happens, one way to mitigate the danger.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Keep the windows open, that to me when you're dealing with a respiratory virus. Its simplicity is so, so obvious.
SIDNER: But in the third largest school district in the country, public school officials announcing the danger is too high to reopen.
MAYOR LORI LIGHTFOOT (D), CHICAGO: But the fact of the matter is, we are seeing an increase in cases combined with the trends we're seeing the decision just to start remotely makes sense for a district of CPS a size and diversity.
SIDNER: And American Academy of Pediatrics study revealing minority children had much greater rates of infections than their white counterparts.
In a study of 1000 children 30 percent of black children and 46.4 percent of Hispanic children tested positive for the virus compared to 7.3 percent of white children. Across the country, a small bit of hope.
Forty-five of 50 states are seeing new case rates steadying or declining, but the death toll is still rising. Nearly 1,400 people reported dead in one day.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said the lack of a uniform reopening plan helped create a surgeon cases which in turn led to more deaths.
FAUCI: When you look at the number of infections and the number of deaths. It really is quite, quite concerning. I mean, the numbers don't lie.
SIDNER: New York City's mayor announcing vehicle quarantine check point after number show 20 percent of all new COVID-19 cases in the city are coming from out of state travelers.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: The checkpoints I think are going to send a very powerful message that this quarantine law is serious.
SIDNER: In Jackson, Mississippi, a different move to try and slow the spread a nightly curfew for a five-day period announced by its mayor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: And now we are hearing from two groups in Infectious Disease Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association, they have sent a letter to the White House urging the White House to have an entire federal mandate that is for masks across the entire United States. Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Sara, thank you. Sara Sidner reporting for us.
Now to the White House, our Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us.
Jim, we're also getting ready to speak to the White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. He's going to be joining us shortly. We've got a live interview with him coming up.
[17:05:00]
But you're in the meantime getting some new information from your sources about the President and his views on this pandemic.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And we should point out President Trump continued his detachment from coronavirus reality today insisting during a morning T.V. interview that COVID-19 is "going away" when that is just not the case, at least not anytime soon.
Members of the President's Coronavirus Task Force are still distancing themselves from Mr. Trump's rosy assessments as source close to the task force told us the President does not grasp the severity of the pandemic in the U.S. Explain to CNN that Mr. Trump "still doesn't get it."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And what are you down because the percentage down is incredible.
ACOSTA (voice-over): In his latest push to convince schools to reopen across the U.S., President Trump is offering familiar assurances that haven't panned out before that the coronavirus will just disappear.
TRUMP: My view is the school should open, this thing is going away. It will go away like things go away. And my view is that schools should be open.
ACOSTA: One day after the President sat down with his coronavirus task force in the Oval Office for the first time in months, a source familiar with that meeting said Mr. Trump does not grasp for the severity of the pandemic in the U.S., telling CNN "he still doesn't get it. He does not get it."
While the President is praising the administration's response to the pandemic -- TRUMP: The United States has done an amazing job, a great job.
ACOSTA: Task force Dr. Anthony Fauci says the numbers don't lie. The U.S. is lagging behind much of the world.
FAUCI: We, the United States, has suffered as worse, you know, as much or worse than anyone.
ACOSTA: The reason some parts of the country simply never got on board with controlling the virus.
FAUCI: Someone up and someone down and there are parts of the country you could look at that did very well, but totally as a nation, we are in that situation where we've got to get that control way down to a low baseline.
ACOSTA: The President is finding ways distract his based teasing the idea of delivering his convention speech from the White House, turning taxpayer funded property into a campaign prop.
TRUMP: I love the building. I'm there right now. I spent a lot of time here. A lot of people didn't spend as much time. I spend a lot of time here and I like it. And I think it's a great place and greatly representative of our nation.
ACOSTA: Democrats say that's not happening.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: He can't do that. You can't do that. You have political events in the Capitol. You don't have political events in the White House.
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump is also complaining about mail-in balloting, objecting to plans to expand that voting method in Nevada.
TRUMP: So Nevada, we're in court, we'll see how it works out. But if it doesn't work out, you're not going to know that November 3rd election results. I'm talking for the country. It could be for months and months. I mean, actually could be for years.
ACOSTA: Even as he's pushing supporters in Florida to vote by mail.
TRUMP: So Florida has got a great Republican governor, and it had a great Republican Governor Scott -- Ron DeSantis, Rick Scott, two great governors.
ACOSTA: Some fellow Republicans say mail-in voting works in their states
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-KS): Comes down to the state and the local folks, we've never had much of a problem in Kansas.
ACOSTA: The President so worried about mail-in ballots. He wants to move up his debates with Joe Biden.
TRUMP: That first debate should be before the first, at least before the first ballots go out and they have it a month later, almost a month later. It's ridiculous. I'm ready to debate I don't care.
ACOSTA: Members of Congress don't sound like there'll be voting on a coronavirus relief bill anytime soon as both sides appear nowhere near an agreement.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: The speaker and the Democratic leader continue to insist that federal unemployment assistance should pay people more not to work than the essential workers who kept working.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: We cannot agree to an inadequate bill and then go home while the virus continues to spread.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And White House officials are disputing the notion that the President does not understand the severity of the pandemic saying in a statement to CNN, "President is highly engaged on the fight to defeat COVID and well briefed on the virus." Adding," he's leading our nation through this crisis."
But, Wolf, if you look at poll after poll, the American people just don't seem to feel that way. Wolf.
BLITZER: Jim Acosta at the White House for us. Jim, thank you very much.
Let's get some more in all of this. Joining us now, the White House Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows.
Mark, thank you so much for joining us. I know you've been incredibly busy negotiating up on the Hill. You've been with the Treasury Secretary Mnuchin. Just this afternoon meeting with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, how are the negotiations going? Because as you know, the clock is ticking. Millions of Americans need this to put food on the table to not be evicted from their homes or become homeless. What's the latest?
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, Wolf, it's great to be with you. Obviously, I just left a meeting with Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer and Secretary Mnuchin as we discuss those very issues. But I would say that if my democrat colleagues from across the aisle are so concerned about and I'm not sure why they've been objecting to unanimous consent request on the Senate floor when we could have extended the enhanced unemployment just with a simple yes.
[17:10:12]
But yet, not once, but twice, Chuck Schumer has decided to say no. And so we're continuing to engage. We'll be back working with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer tomorrow evening, as we try to reach some kind of consensus.
But I can tell you that it has been mostly the President and Republicans that have been making the concessions in trying to finally get a deal across the finish line for those that are hurting during this unprecedented pandemic.
BLITZER: You said earlier that if there's not a deal with the Democrats by Friday, there won't be a deal at all. Are you really willing to tell millions of Americans who are struggling right now that there won't be a deal and they will either not be able to pay the rent, they'll be homeless or they'll be forced to look for food and go to places simply to get free food.
MEADOWS: Well, certainly the President has been very clear on that particular issue, Wolf, and he has really charged not just Secretary Mnuchin and myself, but all Republicans to come to the table and stay engaged.
But what I'm saying is, is by Friday, if we haven't made significant progress, and we're just too far apart, the President is prepared to take executive action. And on those two items that you're talking about making sure that eviction protection is done, he will do that with through executive action, making sure that those enhanced unemployment payments that stopped because Democrats refused to say yes, just a few days ago, he will do executive actions and take executive actions to actually address those two areas to make sure that at least what he can do is take action, because Congress won't.
BLITZER: Does he have the authority to do that with an executive action with simply writing his signature?
MEADOWS: Well, we've been looking very closely at that with legal counsel and getting opinions on that. And because of some of the flexibility we have from the previous CARES Act, as well as the executive privilege that the President enjoys broadly, we believe that we can address those two things. He will address those two things.
So the good news for your viewers is if Congress can't get it done, the President of the United States will.
BLITZER: All right, let's turn to the coronavirus pandemic, which seems to be getting worse by the day here in the United States. Source as you just heard in Jim Acosta is reporting familiar with the President's task force meeting in the Oval Office yesterday tells CNN, the President, "still doesn't get it." So we're six months --
MEADOWS: Well, yes, I heard that.
BLITZER: Mark, hold on a sec. We're still six months into this horrible pandemic, 157,000 Americans are dead, just today the 1,399 we learned today that died yesterday. So what about that? What doesn't the President get?
MEADOWS: Well, I can tell you the President does get it. I briefed him each and every day. And when we look at it, I'm not sure who your source familiar with normally that's, you know, third and fourth hearsay is not someone who's in the room, is certainly not in the room with the President, myself, as we've looked at that.
I can tell you this, we're focused on a number of things. One is, he's making sure that if you get this that you have the therapeutics available to make sure that we minimize the death that is there. The other is investing as much money as needed, and literally an unlimited budget to make sure that we have a vaccine that addresses this.
And then more broadly, a number of the things that we've done in the past, the President consistently said we were going to fix the ventilator problem, he did that. He said that we were going to close down our borders to make sure that we could protect as many Americans as possible.
Listen, this is this is a virus that came from China, you know, that the anger that we should be feeling is with the Chinese government and not being transparent, because we're all having to deal with it now.
BLITZER: But let me just -- with respect --
MEADOWS: But respectively -- hold on, let me --
BLITZER: Yes.
MEADOWS: -- let me go ahead and finish up with this. We're going to commit the necessary resources. The President has made it clear. We got to deal with this and make sure that we do that. And that's what he's committed to do.
BLITZER: But this will be going on for six months already. And to get a therapeutic that's effective could take months from now to get a vaccine, could even take longer. In the meantime, more than 1000 Americans, Mark, are dying every single day.
And Dr. Fauci as you heard him today, Dr. Fauci said the United States has suffered from this virus. And I'm quoting him now "as much or worse than anyone around the world," that certainly isn't the same message we're hearing when the President describes this.
[17:15:06]
MEADOWS: Well, I think the President is looking at what's coming down the pike. And in bluntly, what we have is any death is one to many. And nobody wants to lose a loved one to this virus that came here from China that no one had heard of six months ago.
And so I know that the President shares that feeling. I know I feel -- share that feeling as well. But here's the other thing that you -- when you start talking about months and years, yes, under traditional circumstances, that would be accurate, but this President has not only set a whole of government approach, but he's put forth the resources to make sure that we have therapeutics and to suggest that there's not going to be any therapeutics or any vaccines for years is not based on --
BLITZER: Now one is suggesting that everybody is upbeat about eventually getting legitimate safe therapeutics.
MEADOWS: Well, but what I'm saying, your timeframe, Wolf, your timeframe is not accurate based on what I'm seeing.
BLITZER: No. The therapeutics --
MEADOWS: So.
BLITZER: The therapeutics could be in the next few months and there could be a vaccine.
MEADOWS: Well, there could be -- it could be in the next few weeks.
BLITZER: Well, we hope so.
MEADOWS: So I do hope so. And I hope that we're all hoping so.
But here's the other thing is he is cutting through red tape. He's spending unbelievable amounts of time, money and investment to make sure that the American people don't have to just look at a coronavirus case ticker on the clock each and every day that we do something about it. And I can tell you that there's not a day that goes by that not only the President of the United States, but he tasked everybody on his team to keep a focus on that and get some answers for the American people that are hurting.
BLITZER: As you know, the President's getting a lot of criticism in that interview with Jonathan Swan from Axios when Jonathan pointed out that more than 1000 Americans are still dying every single day, the President responded at one point saying "it is what it is." You think he regrets having said, because it sounds so flipping?
MEADOWS: Well, it's not flipping from his standpoint. I can tell you talk about holding China accountable is something that he is -- has not only stressed with me but stressed with others. It's also looking at what do we do to lower the death toll.
And as we look at this, we've learned a lot of lessons. And if you look at the death toll in New York versus the death tolls in many of these other states, we can tell that we are indeed improving with regards to the death rate. That being said, one death is far too many.
This president will not stop until he makes sure that we have a cure and that we have therapies and ultimately that the risk of this virus is minimal.
BLITZER: Because, you know, you and I have known each other for a long time.
MEADOWS: Sure.
BLITZER: When I hear this number 1,399 Americans died yesterday, in one day from coronavirus, these are real people, these -- as I often say --
MEADOWS: Oh, they are. They're real people. They're family --
BLITZER: -- mothers and fathers sons and daughters, brothers --
MEADOWS: You and I know that. Yes.
BLITZER: You're just as upset as I am. But --
MEADOWS: I am.
BLITZER: -- the President sometimes seems to say we're going to get over it. It's going to be over with. Let's move on. We got a lot of other issues to deal with. This is the major crisis facing our country right now.
MEADOWS: Well, if I can bring you behind the scenes, Wolf, just a little bit, because there's a whole lot that gets reported and a whole lot that doesn't get to be seen. I can tell you that early in the morning, late in the evening, and a number of times in between, the President is not only asking what we are doing in terms of addressing this to make sure that people are safe and loved ones are safe, but he's demanding on why we can't go faster, why we can't get an answer to this. And each and every day, we are looking at what we can do to make sure that we address it.
This is an unknown virus that came from a place that we do know, and yet we're going to have to fix this. And we will with American ingenuity, and Americans coming together to tackle this on behalf of science.
BLITZER: Yes. And we all hope that that happens. In the meantime, thousands of Americans keep dying.
Let's talk about schools, while I have you Mark.
MEADOWS: Yes. Yes.
BLITZER: The President once again said schools should reopen because of his words. And he said this today, I was surprised to hear it when he said it on Fox and Friends, kids are virtually immune to the virus, virtually immune.
MEADOWS: Yes.
BLITZER: That's not true. As you know --
MEADOWS: Well, it is true --
BLITZER: Wait a minute.
MEADOWS: I think he's -- you can go ahead. I'm sorry.
BLITZER: They can get it and they can transmit it especially if they're 10 years and older, they can come home, even if they're totally asymptomatic, they could spread it to their parents, their grandparents, to other adults. These are serious situations we're watching right now.
MEADOWS: Well, they are, Wolf.
BLITZER: But the President seemed to be giving a false sense of security --
MEADOWS: No, I don't think he --
BLITZER: -- about schools reopening?
MEADOWS: -- I don't think he's given a false sense of security at all. Here's the great news as a parent, as someone who, you know, our loved ones are the most precious thing that we have in our life. And as a parent, when you look at that, if you look at the risk of children going to school, there's a six times greater likelihood of children dying from the influenza than there is from this disease.
[17:20:07]
So, when we look at relatively safe, you know, again, one death is too many. But what I'm telling you is, is the flu is more dangerous based on real statistics than COVID-19. And parents need to understand that because we all want to make sure we protect our kids.
BLITZER: But you agree that when the President says kids are virtually immune, they are not virtually immune, they're potentially in real danger.
MEADOWS: Well, here's the numbers is -- this was as a couple of weeks ago, so I would have to verify it. But if we're talking about children that are 18 years of age and younger and we look at so many deaths that have happened, there's 54 deaths in that -- in between 18 years of age and younger. And when we look at those 54 most, if not all of those, had comorbidities, other things that that this disease attack.
And so, that's why we need to really be vigilant to make sure that we're protecting. But as a parent, you know, I care about my kids as your viewers right now. They're thinking about their kids or their nieces or nephews or grandchildren. And we do need to make sure that they're protected. And yet at the same time, we're taking every step that we can to do that, make sure that we open our schools responsibly and safely.
BLITZER: I don't know if you heard Sara Sidner's report right at the top of the hour. I don't know if you were there, but already sub kids in Georgia schools just reopened in some districts over there. They've been tested, and they've come down positive for coronavirus, and Mississippi and other places as well.
And one of the things that really worries me and I'm sure worries you, Mark, as well, even if the kids don't have any symptoms, even if they're totally immune, we don't know what the long-term effects of having coronavirus will be on their bodies, on their brain. There's a lot that the doctors are telling us, we simply don't know. So we got to deal with this. These kids are the most important, right?
MEADOWS: Well, the kids are the most important and we've asked not only CDC, but NIH and a number of others to really look and make sure that we can address all of those things, Wolf. The preliminary data is really good for children. And I want to stress that. So, if you're a mom or a dad or a guardian or grandparent, aunt, uncle viewing here today, the news for kids is actually better than if you're 75 years --
BLITZER: You're absolutely right with the kids --
MEADOWS: Yes.
BLITZER: -- the kids can deal with this a lot better than adults, but they can transmit the virus to adult.
MEADOWS: That's correct.
BLITZER: That's what concerns a lot of people.
MEADOWS: Listen, I think we can all transmit it. Anybody who sent their kids to school know that a lot of times is the kids come home and you catch whatever you got from your kids --
BLITZER: Right.
MEADOWS: -- and we were transferring it back and forth. I don't deny that.
BLITZER: Right.
MEADOWS: But here's what we need to do, is if you're -- the message should be clear. If you're 75 years of age or older, you need to be super hyper vigilant. If you're younger than 75, and that you don't have diabetes, hypertension, obesity, some of the other heart conditions, you know, you still need to remain vigilant, but you don't have the same risk factor as those that are over 75.
BLITZER: Yes. Well, that's good advice, sir. There's no doubt about that.
Let's turn to another issue that's come up over these past few days or the upcoming election. Why is the President telling Florida voters that voting by mail will be safe and secure but telling Nevada voters it will be a corrupt disaster?
MEADOWS: Well, here's -- I think there's two different states that do it two different ways. I think that the President is consistent with saying absentee voting and those who vote by mail and have a process to do that, where you request the ballot and where the chain of custody from the voter to the ballot box is consistent is something that we need to do.
Nevada was not that. In fact, what it was saying is we're going to send out all the ballots to everyone where you can even put two ballots in an envelope, you know, that -- we want to make sure the integrity of our elections is something that is not only protected, but that's something that we can count on. So there's not all kinds of accusations of fraud because we've seen it in some states.
We've seen it also in my home state of North Carolina, you know that. And as we look at this, when we have states that are trying to jump into universal mail-in ballots, one, there's not enough time to get it done. But two, we need to make sure that every vote counts, but that only one vote per person is what counts. BLITZER: But when the President keeps saying all these negative things about voting by mail, and as you know, especially older people, they don't want to necessarily go to a polling station and wait in line during the midst of this pandemic. They're afraid, they want to vote by mail.
[17:25:01]
When the President is undermining trust and voting by mail as he's doing on almost daily basis, isn't that actually depressing, potentially his own Republican turnout on November 3?
MEADOWS: Well, you know, obviously, when you look at voting by mail, depressing turnout is not the President's goal, nor is it my goal, nor is it the goal of anyone. But what we do want to make sure of is that if you're voting by mail, that you're requesting that ballot.
I can tell you, I look at the voter rolls in North Carolina and many of these states, but I can speak specifically to North Carolina, as you know, is on those voting rolls. There are oftentimes three and four people that are on the voting rolls in a household and they're long gone.
They've either moved on or they've gone off to school, they're reregistered somewhere else. And if we start sending ballots to everyone that is on the voting roll, we will have a problem.
BLITZER: Well, you know, there are five states as you know that only have voted by mail, including Utah, which is pretty Republican state.
MEADOWS: Right.
BLITZER: They have very little problem. If any Colorado, which is a purple state, they have very little problem, Washington State, Oregon. As you know, that these states have been doing it.
MEADOWS: Well, they've been doing -- they've been -- Wolf, they've been doing it for a long time.
BLITZER: And they've had virtually no problems.
MEADOWS: So here's what we need, so let's go to New York. Let's look at the results. You know, however beautiful the strategy we must occasionally look at the results, and you don't have to look any further than New York and the elections that we just have. We have weeks and weeks and weeks waiting for a result. So are you suggesting that when November 3 comes we ought to wait until January 3? I don't think so.
What we have to do is make sure that if you request an absentee ballot, we need to make sure that that secure, we can do that. But to start wholesale trying to change the way that we conduct elections state by state, I can tell you, we're asking for problems, we're asking for fraud and ultimately we're asking for lawsuits.
BLITZER: Yes, but you agree that by the President repeating that there's a lot of fraud with mail-in balloting, he might depress Republican turnout. That could be a huge problem in his bid for reelection.
MEADOWS: I think fraud anywhere will depress turnout, whether it's Republicans or Democrat is it shouldn't be a partisan thing. Again, we should encourage everyone to vote. It's a privilege. And we have that privilege. We ought to encourage that.
And yet at the same time, we shouldn't disenfranchise voters by thinking that we can send multiple ballots into a household and somehow --
BLITZER: All right. I want to move on. Mark, I want to move on. But if people have underlying conditions, they're afraid to go to a polling station. If they're 65 and older, they're nervous about that. Shouldn't the country right now be giving them a better opportunity to vote by mail?
MEADOWS: Well, they can give them a better opportunity to vote by mail if they're doing exactly what is secure and what is appropriate. I would agree with you on that.
The other thing that we can do that really hadn't been discuss is why don't we have curbside voting? Let them get in the car. Let them come in. We have curbside voting in North Carolina. If you really want to make sure that we're doing it, there's a way to actually vote and make sure it's safe whether it's by mail, whether it's by curbside or in- person.
We're looking right now for several hundred million dollars to be put in this CARES for Act, Wolf, to try to address just that.
BLITZER: Yes, that's a good idea, that curbside voting. It's a potentially especially during this coronavirus pandemic.
MEADOWS: Sure.
BLITZER: Let me ask you about the President's statement that he says he probably will deliver his Republican National Convention acceptance speech from the White House. So you're a former congressman, you never use the Capitol Hill for political events. Do you think it's appropriate for the President of the United States to use his taxpayer funded official residence, namely the White House, to make that kind of political speech?
MEADOWS: Well, we're in two separate places there in the White House. And so, if you're talking about coming to them from the Oval Office, obviously, that's an official place.
But part of the House is, as you probably well, you do know, Wolf, part of the House is official, as we look at that, that's where we conduct business, then you go over into the East Wing and that's the private residence. And so, doing those kinds of things that would be more political in nature from the East Wing is certainly an appropriate place to do it if he chooses to do that. But listen, those decisions have not been made yet. I can tell you that as we look at it, I don't expect there to be an address from the Oval Office. And your points well taken.
BLITZER: Yes. I suspect you're absolutely right. Because even you're getting a lot of, you know, blowback from Republicans up on Capitol Hill right now, saying this is not a good idea, this is a bad idea for the President to do it.
MEADOWS: Yes, but --
BLITZER: There's plenty of other places the President has been delivered acceptance speech.
MEADOWS: Well, but when we talk about the White House, let's be clear, it's from --
BLITZER: So what you're saying he would do it from the residents upstairs, in the residents as supposed to the South Lawn?
MEADOWS: -- you know, the private residents. Well, not just even the residents.
[17:30:00]
Anywhere -- yes, anywhere over on the East Wing and I don't where we divided all --
BLITZER: Well, the East Wing is still the White House. But what I hear you saying --
MEADOWS: Well, he lives in the White House. The last time I checked, he is still a resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And so that would be like saying Elizabeth Warren when she came out and pop the beer that said she couldn't do it from her home, I don't know that you would agree with that either.
BLITZER: No, definitely you can do that. All right. But the whole point, and I'm hearing it from Republicans on the Hill, they are very uncomfortable about this. Because this is taxpayer funded. The residence and the whole White House complex as we know. But let me move on.
A foreign policy question, Mark, before I let you go, and you've been very generous with your time. Why did the President speculate publicly yesterday that that awful huge terrible explosion in Beirut, in his words, was a terrible attack and possibly a bomb of some kind?
Just a little while ago, the Defense Secretary Mark Esper says most U.S. officials believe this was an accident as the Lebanese authorities themselves are reporting. Tell us what's going on. You're the White House Chief of Staff.
MEADOWS: Yes. Well, I can tell you from Secretary Esper's standpoint, he didn't know. I had a meeting with him earlier today. Intelligence is not something that we talk about. But it's also developing. I can tell you the initial reports was exactly what the President shared with all of you. I happen to know that he was briefed on that. The initial reports looked at explosion.
We still have not totally ruled that out. You know, without sharing anything classified, I've been able to see a lot of what has taken place there. We'll continue to evaluate that. Obviously, there's no group that has claimed any responsibility.
But what the President shared with the American people is what he was briefed on. And as we look at that, we'll continue to evaluate it. Hopefully, it was just a tragic accident and not an act of terror. But we're still looking at at all the intel of that.
BLITZER: Yes. No, I understand completely if there were some initial reports from the U.S. Intelligence or from the military, as he said his generals. It's one thing for him to hear that. It's another thing to speculate publicly about such a sensitive issue where more than 100 Lebanese are dead, thousands are injured and they are hearing from the President of the United States with some sort of bomb, it was some sort of terrorist activity, something along that -- it causes potentially as you all known, you've been involved in this issues for a long time. It causes a lot of problems potentially.
MEADOWS: Well, Wolf, you know, I got to know you because you're a household name as you were reporting from almost daily coverage when we looked at what was happening in the Middle East, you know. Well, I won't say how long ago but a long time ago is that's where I got to know you.
And I can tell you, just like with your reporting then, and just like with intelligence now, what we do is we get initial reports, we get follow-up reports. We have confirmatory reports.
And many times things that we can't share with the American people that we happen to know. When you're there speaking and telling people what you believe to be credible and actual and factual, and we know from an intelligence standpoint that it's not accurate.
So, you know, it changes. I can tell you this. The President shared with the American people what he was briefed on with 100 percent certainty, I can tell you that. And with that, we still are yet to know the full story on what transpired.
BLITZER: I know you got to run, but can you -- so what I hear you saying, it is possible this wasn't an accident, it was a bomb, is that what I hear you saying?
MEADOWS: Yes. I'm not going to speculate on what it is. I'm saying what we are doing is still gathering intelligence, reviewing the situation. And as we do that, hopefully we'll be able to come to a conclusion. But what I'm saying right now is that you may have one consensus that something has happened but not necessarily it's definitive across all the intel agencies. I wouldn't speak to that anyways.
BLITZER: Right. MEADOWS: But I can just tell you that when he briefs the American people after being briefed, you know, he was sharing it. It was not speculation on his part.
BLITZER: Well I'm sure -- you know, if that's what he heard. My only point is maybe he shouldn't have said it publicly, but that's another point. Mark Meadows, you got a lot going on right now. I really hope you and the Republicans in the House and the Senate, and the Democrats can work on a deal in the next few days. Hopefully by Friday. Because, as you know, there are 20 million, 25 million Americans right now who are desperately in need of this kind of assistance.
And there are, you know -- I don't want to see a lot of people begging for food. I don't want to see a lot of people homeless.
MEADOWS: I agree.
BLITZER: It's too important right now.
MEADOWS: And here's what I will say is if Congress and the folks behind me, if they don't act, the President will act.
BLITZER: We will watch it together with you. Mark, thanks so much for joining us.
MEADOWS: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: And you're right, you and I go way back. We have a good relationship. I hope you come back and visit us here in "THE SITUATION ROOM," my situation room, very frequently.
[17:35:08]
MEADOWS: All right, very good. Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks so much for your time.
All right. Let's discuss what we just heard. Our Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is with us. Our CNN Political -- our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash is with us. So, Dana, what stood out to you? You've covered Mark Meadows when he was a congressman from North Carolina for a long time. What stood out to you right now from what he said?
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I think the headline that is going to matter most to people out there struggling that you refer to multiple times in the interview is that if Congress and the White House don't come up with the deal by Friday, Mark Meadows just confirmed and put a date certain on what the President has been alluding to, which is some executive action by Friday in order to get those enhanced unemployment benefits back up and running.
We don't know what number we would be talking about or how it would work, but that was a headline. The other thing that I found really fascinating was your discussion with him over mail-in ballots. And very real questions over why the President chose Florida to
suddenly reverse himself on a Republican run state that is crucial to him in order to win re-election. And he's suing Nevada, for example, which is run by a Democratic governor.
I was just looking this up as you were asking him, and I saw this on an Associated Press story. The answer could just be in the numbers. Florida, according to the Secretary of State there, Democrats have requested 1.9 million ballots to vote by mail or absentee and Republicans 1.3 million. So Republicans now have a 600,000 vote deficit in vote by mail. And that could be detrimental even potentially politically fatal to the President. That could be your answer as to why the President is did what he did there.
And then just more broadly, the argument that his White House is making, and that Mark Meadows kind of made there is that there's a difference between being able to request a ballot and the new law that Nevada put in, which seems to be just mailing ballots out to people who are already registered to vote, which other states already do. That's seems to be one of the differences that the White House is arguing about.
BLITZER: Yes. That -- A lot of states are beginning to do that, especially in the midst of a coronavirus --
BASH: Exactly.
BLITZER: -- pandemic. Sanjay, you did an excellent one hour interview with Dr. Fauci today, courtesy of Harvard University. And I listened and watched the whole thing. What did you make of what Mark Meadows, the White House Chief of Staff, had to say about the White House coronavirus response that's unfolding right now?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, he focused -- initially when you asked him the question, Wolf, he focused on the therapeutics and the vaccine, these efforts that are underway and, you know, are still early days, but do seem optimistic.
But then he spent a lot of time talking about the fact that this was a virus that came from China, that they close the borders. I was surprised that he didn't talk about the huge testing deficiencies that still persist in this country this many months. And he didn't talk about contact tracing. He didn't talk about masks, he didn't talk about personal protective equipment, which is still in short supply in hospital, some hospitals around the country.
You asked about schools ultimately, but he didn't talk about schools. He sort of seemed to backup this incorrect assertion that the President has made that kids are largely immune to this virus. They're not.
More than a quarter million children have been infected with this virus, and maybe closer to 350,000 now if you do the look at the data. A lot of kids have been infected by this. It is true, Wolf, as you pointed out, they're far less likely to get sick, but they can spread this. The Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also said, people -- you know, he seemed to say people who are 75 and older are the only ones that really have to worry about this. 40 percent of the deaths roughly have occurred in the United States and people who are under the age of 75. So, you know, we got to make sure we're getting the correct information out there. There is a lot that can be done, vaccines, therapeutics, very important, no doubt about it.
But as, again, Wolf, as you pointed out, I mean, you got more than 1,000 people dying, and there are things that we can do to bring down the amount of virus in this country right now. That's going to be the key over the next several weeks and months. The vaccines and therapeutics will come hopefully. We can't just sit on our hands in the meantime.
BLITZER: Yes, no. I'm hearing very, very optimistic words from all the experts about a therapeutic maybe in the next few weeks, probably the next few months that's proven safe and available, and can prevent people from getting potentially very sick, God forbid, dying. And eventually, maybe by the end of the year or early next year, a vaccine that is safe and reliable. But in the meantime, what, Sanjay, 1,000 Americans are dying almost every single day.
[17:40:04]
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, it's really -- it's unbelievable. I mean, it's hard to imagine. I remember when we were talking back in March and the -- some of the initial projections came out that said by August 4th, which is, you know, yesterday that 60,000 Americans would die and we all, you know, we're in disbelief. And now, you know, it's more than double that and it's still going up.
Some have projected that, you know, if 1,000 Americans continue to die every day, it would be 300,000 people by the end of the year, Wolf. It would -- It was a disease that didn't even exist last year, and it would become the third leading cause of death in the United States. So, this was not inevitable.
You know, one of the things I talked to Dr. Fauci about was just, look, why the United States, why were we hit so hard compared to other countries. And that's a long, you know, list of reasons but the fact of the matter is that it's true.
We represent the most infections and most deaths, you know, 5 percent of the world's population we have and 20 percent to 25 percent of the world's -- sadly the world's deaths. So it's significant and we've got to do something. We, you know, we still have to act. You know, the vaccines and therapeutics are important, but we have to do something now.
BLITZER: Yes. I want to bring in Dr. Ashish Jha from the Harvard Global Health Institute to get his analysis as well. Dr. Shah, you know, it's really critical right now. Before a therapeutic really emerges that could save lives, before a vaccine emerges, there are things that all of us should be doing. And the leadership should be telling the entire American population, you can save thousands of lives if you do X, Y, and Z, right?
DR. ASHISH JHA, DIRECTOR, HARVARD GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE: Yes. Wolf, thank you for having me on. And I completely agree with that. And the bottom line is that instead of waiting and hoping for a vaccine, and I'm optimistic we'll have one.
BLITZER: Me too.
JHA: We can be saving lives today. We can be saving thousands of lives today. If we do some other basic things. And, you know, instead of just holding out hope for the vaccine, the administration can be doing a lot to promote mass squaring to avoid having people congregate indoors, and to finally fix testing, which we've been talking about for months. If we did those things, we could save tens of thousands of Americans lives while we await a vaccine.
BLITZER: Because the President keeps saying we're doing great testing, and I'm sure that we are doing great testing, but still maybe half of the tests take too long to get the results. And sometimes that makes those tests sort of irrelevant.
JHA: Yes. You know, we're not doing great testing. I think, that's not the experience of the American people. What great testing would be would be testing this widely available that would let our kids get back to school safely, that would let college kids get back to college. It would allow people to get back to work and most importantly, would give us results quickly and effectively and efficiently. We all know that doesn't exist.
So under no kind of meaningful definition of great testing, do we have great testing, the bottom line is our testing system is not working for the American people. And part of that, cost is that we have the highest number of cases and deaths in the world.
BLITZER: And Sanjay, when you spoke with Dr. Fauci today, he acknowledged to you -- and I thought this was a blunt statement on this part -- that the U.S. is failing when it comes to testing, is that right?
GUPTA: He did. And, yes, that's exactly what he said. He said, it's unacceptable period, is how he put it. And, you know, he -- I think he's been very frustrated with the lack of testing for some time. And, you know, I think many members of the Coronavirus Task Force have been frustrated by this.
I still can't figure out why, you know, we are so woefully behind. I mean, you know, we have the capability it seems in this country. Ashish knows better than me, to have made some significant breakthroughs and testing by this point.
I mean, we -- I remember still, three and a half months ago, Ambassador Birx saying we need to have these breakthroughs and testing, antigen testing which could return rapid, accurate, actionable results and put them in all these various locations, nursing homes, hospitals, maybe even schools, you know, places where people actually would use that information and change the way that they behave and live their lives.
And here we are, you know, about to start school and much of the country and we still don't have it. I mean, it's an incredible source of frustration, Wolf. I take so many calls from people, I'm sure Ashish does as well. They're just frustrated and I don't have answers. It lacks a certain logic at this point.
BLITZER: On another issue, Dana, you know, the -- I think the White House Chief of Staff made some news when he suggested what the President said earlier today on Fox & Friends that he probably is going to deliver his Republican National Convention acceptance speech from the White House.
We heard a very different line coming from the White House Chief of Staff in the face of a lot of criticism coming about this from Republicans up on Capitol Hill, saying it would be totally inappropriate to deliver a political speech from the White House.
[17:45:07]
BASH: That's right. The sort of footprint on the White House grounds that the White House is now playing with, for the delivering of this speech is shrinking. Now, what Mark Meadows told you is that it would be potentially from the residents, arguing that that's actually where he lives and therefore is more politically palatable, perhaps even more legal, although there are questions about whether even having a White House speech would be illegal.
Separate from that, the question is whether it is appropriate or politically, not very smart. If you talk to Republicans like, for example, the number two in the Senate, John Thune, who said very publicly to our colleagues up there, that doesn't even make any sense others as well. So this seems to have been a trial balloon from the President and the balloon seems to be sinking. And we'll see if it actually goes splat on the floor by the time we get to tomorrow.
BLITZER: I suspect it will. All right, Dana, thank you very much. Sanjay, thanks as usual to you. Dr. Jha, always important to have you here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM as well.
And to our viewers, stay with us. We're waiting for President Trump to take reporters' questions at today's White House coronavirus briefing. Also ahead, new clues emerging about what may be to blame for that deadly, horrific explosion in Beirut, more than 100 people are dead. More than 5,000 people in Beirut are injured. We'll be right back.
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[17:50:54]
BLITZER: Stay with us here in THE SITUATION ROOM for much more coverage on the coronavirus crisis, but there are other very important new developments in the search for what caused that huge explosion that left at least 135 people dead and more than 5,000 injured in Beirut. Let's go to CNN's Arwa Damon, she's on the scene for us. Arwa, what a horrific, horrible situation. Update our viewers on what you're seeing, what you're learning.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, most people who you talk to here, they really can't even begin to string together the words to adequately describe the shock, the trauma, the sorrow, the search for loved ones, the frantic moments in the aftermath of this extraordinarily massive explosion.
I mean, everyone has seen these videos by now and how that shockwave just rips through streets and alleyways leaving behind a trail of crumpled down buildings and shattered glass. Thousands have been wounded, dozens are still missing at this stage. And right now, you have this demand for answers.
How is it that this could have happened? Because although at this stage, we still don't know what necessarily caused that first explosion, we still don't know what caused the fire that created the conditions or what other factors were involved in creating the conditions that caused these 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate to detonate like this, a highly volatile substance. But what we do know is that this substance was being kept at the port in Beirut for years.
It was confiscated off of a shipment. It was put inside these containers at the port back in 2014, Wolf. And we've seen court documents that show that senior officials within the port, within customs were trying to warn the Lebanese government, consecutive governments at the time that this was not safe. This was a potentially very dangerous situation, but nothing was done about it.
And people here are trying to wrap their minds around that. Is it possible that the governments here were so negligent that they would store this kind of a substance in this large of a volume, so close to densely populated areas where you have residential buildings, you have bars, you have cafes, restaurants, nightclubs. This is not where you store this volume of a substance like this, Wolf.
And the other issue, too, that many are grappling with right now is the lack of government response, whether it's on a national level or a local level. A lot of people who are out there in the streets are saying the government is not doing enough to help us. People in Lebanon, though, know by now that they cannot necessarily count on government to step in. They know that they have to be the ones to help each other.
And that's why you do see this extraordinary effort with volunteers and, you know, volunteer medics and nurses and others, setting up these tents to provide basic medical assistance for people who have minor cuts and bruises because the hospitals are so overwhelmed at this point. Others are providing food, some are trying to help arrange shelter. 300,000 people are without homes, they can't go back to their homes. And so alongside the shock, the horror and the sorrow, you do also have this rising anger.
BLITZER: Which is totally understandable, of course. I spoke to a good friend of mine in Beirut today and he said, this was just so, so awful. Everyone is so scared right now, about the aftermath of this explosion. What it's going to mean for people getting food and simply living in their homes.
Arwa, we're going to stay in very close touch with you. Be careful over there. Thank you so much for joining us.
[17:55:00]
And we have more breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. We're standing by once again for President Trump to take reporters' questions at the White House coronavirus briefing as the country now approaches five million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 157,000 confirmed deaths.
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